MDS: Good Bone Marrow Results

The early results are back from the bone marrow biopsy, and the news is good.

This while Shots Week continues with extreme fatigue, faint nausea, sore and itchy arms at the shot sites, and bowels that are uninterested in functioning.

Anyway, enough with the kvetching. The FISH test results show:

• less than 1% blasts
• no involvement of the chromosome #5q

Some brief explanation.

• The FISH (Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization) test "maps" the genetic material in a person's cells. This test can be used to visualize specific genes or portions of genes. More explanation can be found here.

• Blasts are "bad" or "dead" cells that are produced by the marrow. To have 1% or less is optimum/normal; the diagnosis is worse if the blasts exceed 5%. All people—even healthy ones like you—have some blasts.

• Involvement of the 5q chromosome is an indicator that the MDS is developing into more serious leukemia-like stuff.

So, these results are good—especially the blasts count, since it's the marrow producing too many blasts that creates the problem. The Vidaza seems to have the situation under control at this point.

Of course, no one knows how long the Vidaza will work . . . but, that's a whole 'nother story.

We still await the standard cytogenetic report, which last time took two weeks to come back. If I understand things (not a sure bet), it will show what changes (hopefully none) have occurred in all the chromosomes. Assuming no alarming results are reported from that, it appears I'm holding my own.

Good news, yes.

Considering, however, that this news comes in the middle of a Shots Week that has me feeling like I've been run over by a truck after having been summarily head-butted and kicked in the stomach and groin, I'd say it's like receiving $1 million dollars from John Beresford Tipton (remember The Millionaire?) while watching your house float away during a flood.

It's hard to celebrate when you're feeling like crap, so I'm saving much cheerful cheeriness for next week.